Jury awards $300,000 in gym lawsuit

In a case that surely will have gym owners checking their liability coverage, a Prince William County man has won a $300,000 jury verdict against a gym where he underwent a “CrossFit” workout regimen that, he claimed, left him disabled.

Makimba Mimms, 29, sued Manassas World Gym, Ruthless Training Concepts and its former employee, Javier Lopez. Mimms, a former Navy information systems technician first class, said Lopez oversaw a CrossFit workout at the gym in 2005 that caused his leg muscles to break down. The jury found all three defendants liable, according to the Washington Post.

CrossFit, which was not named as a defendant in the suit, is a fitness program popular in law enforcement and military circles and has been criticized as being dangerously intense.